Cardiac events symptoms and conditions

Do cholesterol lowering drugs do any good? Thats a good question considering the debilitating side effects everyone here is complaining about.
Advertisements in the USA claim "30% reduction" in heart attack and strokes, but does that mean that everyone that takes the drug reduces their individual risk by 30%. Not exactly. The advertisements boast what is called relative risk reduction. The absolute risk reduction is what counts and is less than 1% on most statins. So how did lipitor do on prevention of events? Here is the bottom line: If you are a middle aged male, 100 MEN will have to take lipitor for 3.3 years to prevent one MAN from a heart attack or stroke. WOW! You have to treat 100 guys for over 3 years in order for one guy to benefit.

I have a history of sinus infections. After two rounds of Augmentin did not clear up my latest one, my doctor finally gave me the steroid pack and Avelox. He had tried to avoid the steroids. I have had them so many times. I finished my steroids 5 days ago and my Avelox yesterday. I read the side effects and did as it suggested. Since it mentions low potassium would not be good I ate a banana every day and had some orange juice to keep my potassium levels up. The drug warms against taking any pain killers such as Aleve, Advil, etc. One earlier reviewer admitted taking Aleve and had a bad reaction... well.... bad move.... I have had no real side effects that I can say for sure are Avelox related. I did feel a little less focused at times, but was not obviously groggy or woosey. I did have a little abdominal discomfort that I usually do not have with drugs, but it was short-lived and only occurred 3 of the 10 days. Many people have bad effects because they do not follow the warnings against anti-acids, pain killers, low potassium, etc. Some people are more likely to react to any medicine, while others like me rarely have a side effect. My tendons did not hurt... nothing.... People who are out of shape, have a poor physical life style, etc. sometimes help contribute to the drugs reactions by being in basically poor physical health to begin with. America is one of the fattest, out of shape nations out there due to our abundance of everything. The majority of persons can take Avelox with no real issues. I will take it again. I truly feel concern for those who had problems, but sometimes we are partly guilty by how we don't take care of ourselves when we are well...... As with any drug, some persons will react no matter what... It's often just a matter of inherited genetics...... Be safe everyone, and take time to evaluate how you take care of your body and really decide to do better. For the record I am almost 58, 5-9 158 pounds and work out semi-regularly.... Take care of that temple God gave you. Its the only one we get on this Earth,,,,,,

I am currently 58 years old and lead a very active, healthy lifestyle. I began taking 10mg of Zocor, along with 1000mg of niacin in the summer of 2004 to reduce cholesterol (251) and triglycerides (571). The therapy dramatically improved my blood tests, however, within 6 weeks, I began to experience minor chronic skin infections, both fungal and bacterial. They were easily controlled with topical over the counter type medications, but they were annoying. At no time was this new condition linked to the statin/niacin therapy by my doctor(s). The infections became progressively worse over the next 3 years, and evolved into chronic folliculitis in my scalp, neck, and face, cystic acne, and persistent fungal infections that were becoming more difficult to control. In addition, I began to get chronic eye infections. It was as if my immune system was becoming ineffective. I stopped taking niacin in December of 2007 and the symptoms immediately lessened. I stopped taking Zocor in March of 2008 and within 2 weeks, all the skin problems and eye infections completely ended. My health was restored completely and I am glad to have put that whole mess behind me! I have been taking Omega 3 supplements to control my cholesterol and triglycerides and have had results that equaled the Zocor and Niacin therapy, with cholesterol at 160, triglycerides at 91, and a favorable HDL/LDL ratio. My physician is skeptical, but I know that my body was not functioning correctly with the statin/niacin treatment. I have found anecdotal reports from others who seem to have experienced a change in their immune system, but no mention of this as a side effect by the medical establishment.